Pima County administrator Chuck Huckelberry is proposing a $1.34 billion budget for the coming fiscal year, a plan that includes a 12-cent total property tax reduction and countywide raises.
That budget is 6.1 percent larger than last year’s, according to a recent memo from Huckelberry.
As proposed, the combined rate for the five separate property taxes the county controls would be $5.86 for every $100 of taxable value. The figure does not include school or fire district property taxes, which the county does not control.
For a home worth $194,742 — the current county median according to Zillow — that would spell a tax bill of $1,140.88, down a little more than $23 for a property of the same value this year. However, because property values are expected to rise an average of 1.33 percent over the next year, some homeowners may not see any property tax savings.
The supervisors must approve any final budget, and will do so on June 19. Because the Legislature has not approved a final budget, there could be county impacts that require changes before final adoption.
Huckelberry’s proposal includes an across-the-board 2.5-percent raise for all eligible employees, as well as more substantial raises for some sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers.
Upon completion of trainee status, new deputies and COs will move to a higher base wage — $23.50 and $19.50 respectively. Beyond the 2.5-percent raise for all county employees, more experienced qualifying deputies and COs will also get an additional 5-percent raise in early 2019.
In exchange for the raises, Sheriff Mark Napier has told Huckelberry he will not seek additional raises in fiscal year 2020, according to the memo. He clarified that the deputies’ union and other organizations could still push for raises independently.
Napier told the Star that the raises in the budget plan will help with recruitment and retention. He also said the longer-term plan is to transition to a merit-based pay plan by fiscal year 2021. Many deputies have been critical of the abandonment of a previous step pay system, which provided annual raises to many employees. It has been defunct since the Great Recession, and several deputies are currently suing the county over its termination.
“The Sheriff’s Department has not conducted performance evaluations in many years,” Napier wrote in a February memo describing the merit proposal. “Part of a merit-based approach to compensation must include performance evaluation, with an expectation of solid performance.”
“We should be encouraging and welcome performance feedback,” Napier said of the proposed transition. “It’s not a threat, and it’s not threatening.”
